p-Coumaroyl-CoA:Monolignol Transferase

United States Patent Application

The invention relates to nucleic acids encoding a p-coumaroyl-CoA:monolignol transferase and to inhibitory nucleic acids adapted to inhibit the expression and/or translation of a p-coumaroyl-CoA:monolignol transferase RNA. Inhibition of p-coumaroyl-CoA:monolignol transferase in plants improves the incorporation of monolignol ferulates into the lignin of plants, giving rise to plant biomass that is more easily processed into useful products such as paper and biofuels.

[0003] This invention was made with government support from Grant No. DE-FC02-07ER64494 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and the Environmental Research (BER) Office of Science. The government has certain rights in the invention.